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THE CAUSES OF THE GERMAN EMIGRATION
TO AMERICA,
1848
TO
1854
BY
JESSIE JUNE KILE
A. B. Rockford College, 1912
THESIS
Submitted
in Partial Fulfillment of the
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MASTER OF ARTS
IN HISTORY
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
1914
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I
TABLE OF COI7TEI7ES
CHAPTER
P*GE
tdotitt^ n TOT T
T~
1
Emigration previous to 1848; comparison of
the German with the French, English, and
Irish emigration; character of German emigrants •
II
RELIGIOUS CAUSES
Religious emigration previous to 1848; Protestant dissatisfaction; growth of free thinking; German Catholicism; effects of religious
disturbances
Ill
POLITICAL CAUSES
14
?he Mettemioh policy; the Revolution of 1848
and its failure;
the reaction.
17
ECONOMIC CAUSES
V°
23
.^Overpopulation; famine, prioes, and emigration;
reudal tenure and Stein-Hardenberg reforms; emigration and rainfall; indiistrial revolution;
wages
Y
SH?
^
I
1
V
;
I'2D
commercial crisis.
PRIVITil AID
Emigration Societies; legal freedom of emigration; advieo to emigrants; state appropriations.
T
CAUSES
II!
AMERICA
44.
Opening up of the West; discovery of gold in
California; letter: -,nd advice of earlier emigrants .
TTT
T
ft
ATT OTP'
OF DECLINE
II:
1855
Improvement of conditions in Germany j depression in the United 3tates; slavery agitation;
Know-ITo thing Party.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
50
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THE CAUSES OE GERMAJJ EMISRATIOU TO AMERICA
1848 - 1854.
CHAPTER
r.
IHTRODUCTIOJ!.
Emigration previous to 1848; Comparison of the German
with the French, English, and Irish Emigration; Character of German Emigrants.
The stream of German emigration to our shores has "been
in a series of waves rather than in a steady current.
It com-
menced with the arrival of a few German artisans in the Jamestown Colony of 1607, and continues to the present, although since
1892 it has "been steadily decreasing and is to-day inconsiderable.
The chief reason for the exodus of the seventeenth cen-
tury was the economic distress following the destructive wars of
the times, and especially was this true of the Palatinate whence
came most of the emigrants.
The crops in this section were de-
stroyed four times during the Thirty Years*
ufar,
and again
"by
Louis XIV in 1674 and in 1688, leaving a pauper population with
no choice except between starvation or emigration.
A second
cause was the religious confusion following the Peace of Test-
phalia in 1648, and the persecution of certain Protestant sects,
such as the Quakers and Mennonitcs and in
ans and German Reformed.
sor.ie
states the Luther-
The tyranny of the princes of the
smaller of the numerous states into which Germany was divided and
the heavy taxos which they imposed on the people constitute a
-2-
third motive for leaving the fatherland.
The number, of those who came during this period was
comparatively small, but it increased during the first half of
the eighteenth century, five thousand arriving
in 1754 alone. ^
ir;
Philadelphia
The reasons were the same as during the "ore-
ceding period, but they operated with greater force, and there
were in addition certain artificial aids.
O.ueen Anne of England
For instance in 1709
promised transportation to those who would
come to England and thence to the colonies.
It was her plan to
form a buffer state between the Indians and the English settlers,
but so many arrived in England that the Lords of Trade were puz-
zled as to what to do with all of them; there were thirteen
thousand in London by October, 1709; of these only seventy-five
hundred could be shipped to the colonies, while the rest were employed in various trades and pursuits in England.
2
It was also
the case that the information sent back by the emigrants stirred
the
"
Wanderlust " of the people at home, while the activity of
emigration agents increased it so much that large numbers came,
especially to Pennsylvania.
During the latter part of the century emigration practically ceased, and it is generally supposed that from 1790 to
1820 it was very slight, but there are no statistics either to
prove or disprove this.
The years from 1815 to 1820, however,
probably brought an increased number, for Mrtemberg had suffered
1
2
Hahr: German Emigration 1840-1850, p 1.
Faust: German Element in the United States, i.79.
-3-
much from the Napoleonic Wars and so would
"be
apt to supply a
large contingent; TChile the persecution of the student societies,
beginning in 1817, would probably drive others into exile.
In general the causes for the rise and fall in the wave
of emigration during the nineteenth century are economic, the
increase commonly corresponding to economic decline in parts of
Germany, and simultaneous prosperity, or at least opportunity, in
the United States.
Coupled with this during the first part of
the period was political discontent and oppression,
political repression, over-population, and the ruin
in the western provinces of Prussia of the small hand-industries
in competition with the newly introduced factory system, caused
the first great wave of emigration between 1830 and 1840.
The
second influx comes between 1848 and 1854, and brings a larger
volume than any other six consecutive years although the crest
does not rise as high as in 1882 when over two hundred and fifty
1
thousand Germans arrived in America.
The Irish emigrants are
the only ones who outnumber the Germans during this period, as
may be shown by curves of emigration for Ireland, Germany, France,
and England.
2
In 1854 more
Gem ins
came to America than Irish,
but in 1855, although the Germans still outnumbered the emigrants
from other nations, only about one-third as many came as during
the preceding year and the number does not approach the figure of
that year again until 1881 and 1882."
1
2
3
3ee below, p 5.
ibid.
ibid.
-4-
But it was for quality as well as for quantity that
the German emigration of this period was noted, for their gen-
eral character was considerably "better than that of most emigrants.
Intermingled with the masses were many refugees from
political oppression and espionage, men who, if tolerated in
their own country, would have "become influential there.
For
example there came a group to Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who
were mostly men of means of the agricultural class,
"but
among
them were a professor of language, an editor of a newspaper, a
physician, and a poet.
1
Besides such influential men as Carl
Schurz, many whose careers were destined to
"be
more obscure still
brought with them to their adopted country high and noble ideals.
1 Wis. Hist. Collections, XIV. 565
.
-5-
Curves of Emigration from Ireland, Germany, France,
and England to the United States, 1848 to 1855.
from data in U.
3.
Constructed
Immigration Eeports, ii. passim.
000
I
40 000
t&oooo
1855
IQ50
German Emigration.
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1882
Compiled from ibid.
58,465
60,235
78,896
7£,482
145,918
141,946
215,009
71,918
250,630
\<855
•
-6-
CHAPTER IT.
R3IIGIUUS CAUSES.
Religious emigration previous to 1848; Protestant
dissatisfaction; Growth of free-thinking; German
Catholicism; Effects of religious disturbance.
Since the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620,
America has "been a place of refuge for all those religious sects
which were denied freedom of worship in European countries.
Ifcord
Oalvert founded Maryland in order that the Catholics might
still he ahle to use
t' e
rites of
tl e
Catholic Church, and Wil-
liam Penn obtained a tract of land from the king to give a place
of re fug e to
££ua ke
rs
•
Though Germany never established a religious settlement of
her own, since she owned no part of the Hew World, yet
she contributed a great many emigrants to the colonies of other
By the general acceptance of the principle, "cujus
countries.
regio, eius religio", in the Peace of Augsburg in 1555,
each
prince might decide the religion of his territory, and all had
to conform to it or leave the 3tate.
This naturally produced a
large emigration of Lutherans and Catholics from those states in
which the prince was an adherent of the opposing faith, but a
considerable number of emigrants were Separatists, Quakers, Herrenhitters, Anabaptists, and Mennonites, who were tolerated in n
section
llor
was religious persecution a cause of emigration
during the early times only; it continued to operate even during
1
Cambridge Modern Hist., iii. 140.
-7-
the nineteenth century, and rulers still tried to determine the
religion of their country.
In Prussia Frederick William III
had issued a decree in 1817 ordering a union of the Lutheran
1
and Reformed or Calvinistic Churches.
These two forms of the
Protestant faith had existed in Germany since the sixteenth century, the former being the stronger in the northern and the
latter in the southern, or, more exactly, the southwestern parts.
The chief difference between the two sects lay in the doctrine
of the Lord's Supper:
the Lutherans believed that the body and
blood of Christ were really present in the bread and wine; while
the Calvinists taught that these were rathor symbols of the
Lord's spiritual presence.
The Rationalists, however, did not believe in dogma;
2
to t"-em love was the essence of Christianity, and religion was
a matter of individual conduct, not of church organization.
Thus in the nineteenth century, to many thinkers the old dogmatic
strife was ridiculous, and the best thing to do was to return to
the old unity of faith.
Schleiermachor preached this and firm-
ly believed that in such a concept of religion lay the solution
of all problems,
3
but while he was the spokesman of this doctrine,
Frederick William III was the one who first tried to carry it
into practice.
1
2
Z>
"According to my opinion", he said, "the communion
Wisconsin -Historical Collections, xiv. 544
Cushman's Hist, of Philosophy, ii. 64
ibid,
ii. 341
.
.
-0-
strife is only an unfruitful theological subtlety, of no account
1
in comparison with the fundamental faith of the Scriptures"
He was a member of the Reformed Church,
which emphasised moral
character, and so to him union seemed a more simple matter than it
did to a member of the Lutheran Church, which laid more stress on
doctrine
Accordingly in 1817, the three hundredth anniversary of
the Reformation in Germany, he proclaimed the union of the two
churches.
The consent of the churches was not obtained for this
action, but nevertheless in 1830 by cabinet orders the use of the
new agende or prayer-book of 1822 was strictly enjoined.
This
superseded the old forms of worship; henceforth the Lutheran and
Reformed Churches ceased to exist legally in Prussia, and in their
place was substituted the Evangelical Church, as it was called.
The word "3vangelical" had to be substituted in all writings and
publications in place of the word "Protestant".
The old church
services v/ere abolished, and a new form composed chiefly by Frederick William himself was imposed on the people, with altars,
candlesticks, and other practises that were considered Popish by
the Lutheran Church, and were utterly repugnant to Calvinistic
principles and feelings.
TThile there were
1
2
3
4
many advanced thinkers in Germany who
Treitschke ii. 240.
Wisconsin Historical Collections, xiv. 344.
,
ibid.
Laing, Observations of a Traveller on the Condition of Surope
1848 and 184 9, p. 431.
-9
-
warmly supported the union, the mass of the people in certain
sections was violently opposed to it.
Especially was this true
in Silesia, where practically the entire population was Lutheran,
and where the union was felt to he at least unnecessary."
1
"
Many
of the clergy there refused to adopt the new liturgy, still ad-
hering to their old forms of worship; as a consequence, they were
imprisoned or banished.
Many of the people refused to send their
children to the Evangelical schools, or to accept the services of
the new pastors for marriage, "baptism, or burial, or to pay taxes
to support the new church; such were fined or imprisoned, and
dragoons were quartered on their villages.
'The
persecution was,
according to a contemporary, the most revolting aggression on the
freedom of religion since the Reformation, and one worthy of the
days of Louis XIV.
This action on the part of Prussia was imitated in Baden,
Hesse, and in fact all Protestant Germany except Hanover*
The
government of Baden "eclared that the Oalvinistic Church, in its
simplicity of worship and in the principle of its church government, wis too democratic to be tolerated in monarchical govern-
ments
When Frederick 7illiam IV came to the throne in 1840,
he was not prepared to go
t o
such lengths as had his father in
religious matters, but nevertheless the union was not repealed,
1
2
3
4
Wisconsin Historical Collections, xiv. 345.
Laing, 433.
ibid., 430.
ibid.
-10-
and the people chafed under the legal restrictions, even though
these were not enforced.
1
The king was, on the whole, tolerant
towards all whose faith was based on dogma, hut there was at this
time a freer tendency among German thinkers, and though these men
were tolerated at first, these were in the long run not allowed to
remain in the Protestant National Church, hut were compelled to
withdraw and set up "Free Congregations".
2
Some carried such ideas farther still, and freethinking
became prevalent, thus stirring up the religious world.
In the
early part of the century Schelling had taught that individuals
are merely instruments for carrying out the designs of Providence;
they are entirely dependent on the Absolute. °
that the Idea reigns supreme.
Hegel had declared
"Thinking", he said, "goes on
within us but is not controlled by us, and thought is the one
thing that includes all others and makes of the universe a unity".
4
The teaching of these two men increased philosophical speculation,
but the religious element was shocked by the fatalistic tendencies
of one and the atheism of the other, and a war was brought on by
them between the conservatives and radicals in religious matters.
It was, however,
the iconoclastic writers of the Ttlbingcn
school, Bauer, Vischer, Strauss, and others, who created the most
excitement in Europe by their declaration that the gospels are
unhistorical and the Epistles uninspired.
1
2
3
4
5
5
In order to counteract
Litt ell's Living Age, XXXV, 40.
Cambridge Modern History, xi.51.
Gushman, ii. 511.
32;
ibid.
Andrews, Development of ::odem Europe, i. 270.
,
.
-li-
the influence of these startling announcements, Bishop Arnoldi of
Treves tried
,
in 1844, to strengthen the devotion of the Catho-
lics by the exhibition of the "Holy Goat of Treves", the pretended seamless coat of Ohrist.
1
A million and a half people made the
pilgrimage to see the sacred object.
a.\l
2
The common
lav;
prohibited
extraordinary assemblages either political or religious, but
by the Concordat with the pope the state had agreed not to inter-
Accordingly nothing was done
fere with religious services,"
officially to oppose the Bishop
T
movement, but the actions of
s
the pilgrims on the road and the miraculous stories which the
masses firmly believed concerning the power of the sacred object
excited the hostile zeal of John Ronge, a priest who had been
suspended for holding too liberal ideas.
He gathered around
him some followers who wished to separate from Home, and started
a German Catholic Church.
This was to express their national
sympathies and yet not force them to accept the Protestant religion.
At the same time John Czerski, a suspended vicar of the
Prussian-Polish town Schneidemfthl
,
had organized a "Christian-
Apostolic" congregation of those who would not tolerate the celi-
bacy of the clergy. ^
These two disaffected Catholic sections
united to form the German Catholic Church, but this organization
1
Hagenbach's Hist, of the Church in the 18th & 19th centuries,
p. 450.
£
3
4.
Laing, p. 402.
Hagenbach, p. 450.
ibid.
•
•
-In-
formed in 1844,"
1
"
did not at once gain recognition; it was not tol-
erated officially in some states until 1848, and in others never.
The importance of the movement was overemphasized at the time, for
it soon became too weak to exist of itself and so in 1850 joined
the dissatisfied Protestants of the "Free Congregations" or.
"Friends of Light", as
they were called.'
nover tolerated in most of the states
litical organizations,
"but
These, however, were
were persecuted as po-
and on this account many left Germany for
America and settled chiefly in Wisconsin
Although all of this religious agitation started before
Religious
1848, it paved the way for the revolt of that time.
discussion gradually changed to political unrest.
A contemporary
says, "The forced amalgamation of the Lutheran and Galvinistic
churches
"by
the late King of Prussia into one new church with a
new liturgy and new form of his own devising,, to he called the
Evangelical Church; and the persecution of Lutherans and Calvinists,
the imprisonment, deprivation of office, banishment, dragoon-
quartering, and ruin of the people who refused to acce
t
this new
church and liturgy; was the first step in the Revolution which is
now in progress in Germany"
5
3ven where the ruler did not atte mpt to establish a new
church, the Roman Catholic or Protestant religion was part of the
state, and the clergy formed an essential part of the bureaucratic
1
2
3
4
5
Laing, p. 402
Cambridge ;.:odem nistory, xi . 51.
Littell's Living Age, xxxv. 40.
Wisconsin Hist. Collections, xiv. 545.
Laing, 420.
.
-1,
-
organization of tho government
In this way religious questions were mixed with political;
and unsatisfactory religious conditions, while a primary motive
with a few Germans
,
were an a dditional incentive with others, for
flight to America, where could he found freedom of worship as well
as political freedom.
1
Marx, Revolution and Counterrevolution, 36
CHAPTER III.
POLITICAL CAUSES.
The TIetternich policy;
the Revolution of 1848 and its
failure; the reaction.
Until 1866 we cannot Bucajt cuireuoi^ ui
errnan^ except
as a geographical expression, for the creiman nation
exist.
tiacL
9#ased to
The old Holy Roman Empire had "been destroyed in 1806
when the emperor
"was
forced
"by
Napoleon to abdicate.
The con-
queror then formed the Confederation of the Rhine which included
almost all of the empire except Prussia
ar.d
Austria; hut with the
downfall of its creator this, too, went to pieces in 1815, and
the question of the reconstruction of Germany was one which was
brought before the Congress of Vienna.
This body finally de-
cided upon a loose confederation of soverign states as the only
solution -ossible, the difficulty in the way of forming a stronger
union being that Prussia and Austria were too nearly equal in
strength for either to permit the other to become the leader in a
powerful German nation.
As a matter of fact, however, down to 1848 not only the
German states but the greater part of Europe were dominated by
Austria through her great statesman, Metternich.
The policy of
tlis man was one of stern repression for everything connected
with the French Revolution, which he declared was the "disease
which must be cured, the volcano, which must be extinguished, the
gangrene which must be burned out with the hot iron, the hydra with
-15-
jaws open to swallow up the social order".
Under this, which
may be called the I.Ietternich system, a strict censorship of the
press was established, the universities were placed under close
supervision, and all possible safeguards were erected against democratic ideas.
Nevertheless the motto of the French Revolution,
"Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality", had gained a foothold amongst
the people, and even this great statesman was unable to eradicate
it entirely.
likewise the spirit of German nationality had been
aroused to expel the conqueror from their soil, and now instead of
being rewarded by the formation of a strong national government,
the people were forced to accept a loose union, with the monarchs
reigning supreme in their several states.
In 1830 the people made an attempt over much of Europe
to overthro;; this Hetternich system of repression and gain their
liberties, but the rovolt was for the most part a failure, and
in Germany especially, the oppression became more severe than
befi)
re
The ho^es of the people of Prussia were again raised by the acces-
sion in 1840 of Frederick William IV, who had previous to this time
shown liberal tendencies and who, it was believed, would redeem
the promise of a constitution which had been made by the old king
in 1815,
Again, however, the Prussian people were doomed to dis-
appointment, for the new ruler was no more willing to share his
power than his predecessor had
een.
Once more, nevertheless,
it seemed that their ambition to become a constitutional
1
Mettemich's
I.Iemoirs,
iii. 468
monarchy
-16-
was about to be realised, for on February 3, 1847, the king summon
the Provincial Estates to meet in pleno as the States -General for
Prussia,
and. it
was felt that surely this would become a con-
stituent assembly.
that, then, was their bitter disappointment
when they met on April 11, 1847, in Berlin, to have the king declare that he would never allow a written constitution to come be-
tween the Lord God in Heaven and that land?
2
Consequently the
Lower House refused his request for the sanction of a loan for the
construction of more railways ,' and so he dissolved them with nether
ing accomplished.
The revolt of 1848, however, appeared first in southern
Germany rather than in Prussia.
This was natural, for the former
section had been more affected than Prussia by the ideas of the
French Revolution, and it was administered worse.
In Bavaria
for instance, a dancer, Lola IJontez, had gained the ascendancy
over Louis I, and to please her, ministers were dismissed and the
University of
I.Iunich
closed.
A
The news of the revolts in Bavaria
and Baden, and more especially the overthrow of the monarchy in
France and the flight of Metternich from Vienna, encouraged the
people of Prussia to rebel likewise and demand a constitution,
This the king promised on March 18, 1848.
He also agreed to put
himself at the head of the national movement and to sink Prussia
in Germany.
1
2
3
4
5
Perris, Germany and the German Emperor, 168.
Carl ochurz, Reminiscences, 107.
Perris, 169. Henderson, ii, 343.
Henderson, ii, 345.
Perris, 169.
-17-
The "body on which centered the hopes of the people for
a united Germany was the Frankfort parliament.
On February 27,
1848, fifty-one prominent men had met at Heidelberg to consult on
the needs of the hour.
1
These had appointed a committee or ante-
parliament which in turn called for a national parliament to be
elected by universal suffrage.
p
This assembly met on Hay 18, 1848,
and by this time it seemed that the revolutionists would be able to
force the monarch s to accept the reforms they proposed.
There
were at least three parties represented in the convention, the
conservatives who wished for the old Bund es rath with modifications,
restricted representation-, liberty of the press under governmental
supervision, and the right to assemble for peaceable purposes by
special permission; the moderate liberal party which desired a
constitutional monarchy with an emperor elected by the parliament,
a responsible ministry, an unrestricted press, and a reduction of
the armies; and the radicals who stood for the abdication of all
sovereigns and the abolition
of
al 1
armies. °
This body had a
good chance to form a successful constitution, but instead of
taking advantage of the opportunity to establish a union while the
control was yet in the hands of the revolutionists, they put in
their time debating" the rights of man, feeling, as had the members
of the French Constituent Assembly in 1789, that these must be
declared before a form .of government could be instituted.
It was,
perhaps, this order of procedure more than anything else' that
1
2
3
Browning, 518.
Henderson, ii, 343.
Becker, 19-20.
caused the failure of the Revolution of 1848.
By the time the
constitution had been drawn up the rulers were once more gaining
control, and when the convention offered the crown of Germany to Fred
erick •Villiam 17 of Prussia, he refused, although he had agreed
to put himself at the head of the German movement.
The crown,
however, he would receive only from the sovereigns themselves, for
he was a firm believer in the divine right of kings and was con-
vinced that a parliament could not "bestow the crown of
the-
empire.
Of course the other monarchs could not he brought to agree to give
up their power to the King of Prussia, and so the movement failed.
The s-vereigns had once more gained control, and now
came a time of stern reiDrossion,
The Diet repealed the funda-
mental rights voted by the parliament in
1849;*-
started to restore the 7orma'rzische Sustande .
and the states
As a consequence
the courts had all the work they could do, the prisons were filled,
an d executions became numerous, made only too often in defiance of
even the semblance of law and justice and of common loyalty to
given promises! •
Under such conditions
it
is not
the emigration to America' increased rapidly.
surprising that
2
Many of the insurgents in WUrtemberg had retreated
through the Black Forest to Switzerland.
Here they were disarmed
by the 3wiss, but for a time they were at least safe.
The leaders,
however, could not return to their fatherland, and owing to the
pressure of the German governments they were finally ordered to
1
2
Richard, 472.
See diagram p. 5.
-19-
leave Switzerland.
to escape were tried
The leaders who were not fortunate enough
"by
court martial and imprisoned or shot.
p
In 1851 the states concluded treaties for the expulsion of politi-
cal suspects,
1
'
and in consequence .many leaders, especially from
among those who were Socialists, were exiled.
Among the latter
were Karl Marx, who was not allowed to stop in Paris hut finally
found refuge in London,
4
Frederick -Sngels
,
who had taken part in
the Elberfeld rising of 1849 and was now ordered to leave Prussian
territory,
5
and William We it ling, who was expelled from U-ermany
and later from Switzerland on the grounds of communistic agitation.
6
Jury trials were suppressed in those states in which they had "been
instituted, and special courts were set up to try political cases,
while in some parts government agents were hired to instigate
political offences and then to denounce them.
7
The censorship of the press was restored,
prosecutions became numerous, for the devolution
and press
Y/as
only outward-
ly suppressed, as is shown by the energy of political interest in
Droysen, Llommson, Von Sybel,
md
.
Treitschke, Whose works were in
large part written to glorify Prussia and the German nationality.
This awakening of political life was largely due to the fact that
1
2
Becker, 12.
3
4
Public- tionen aus den Kflnig Preussischen Staats Archiven, xii, 106
5
6
7
ibid..,
14.
«Harx, ix.
Dawson, 53.
ibid., 44.
Seignobos, 398.
-£0-
while the {Revolutionists were in control, the working classes had
been admitted to a share in parliamentary affairs and so had developed an interest in them.
•
it was felt that the theories, social,
religious, and
anti-religious, which filled the minds of the lower orders, emanated from the schools and universities
put under close supervision.
1
,
and so these were again
In 1849 at a conference of teachers
in Prussian training colleges, Frederick William 1Y had said, "You,
and you alone, are to blame for all the misery which the last year
has brought upon Prussia.
to blame for it,
The pseudo-education of the masses is
lou have been spreading it under the name of
This sham education, strutting about like a peacock,
true wisdom.
has always been hateful to me;
soul before
1
I
hated it from the bottom of my
came to the throne, and since
)
I
became king
I
have
O
Cj
done all that I could to suppress it".
Hot content with thus attacking what he considers to be
the source of the trouble, the king next tried to eradicate these
ideas from the lower classes, and on April 14, 1853, a proposal was
introduced into theGerman Diet for repressing workingmen's associations.
This was not passed immediately by the Diet, but a
number of the separate states took up the matter.
That action,
however, was not deemed sufficient, and on July 13, 1854, a motion
was passed that in the interests of common safety all the federated
governments should further undertake to dissolve within two months
1
2
3
Littell's Living Age, xvii. 530.
Haldane, 419.
Publicaticnen aus den KfJnig Preussischen 3ta tsarchivcn, xv. 109.
.
all the working men's associations and fraternities, then
e::i .t-
ing in their territories, which were pursuing political, social-
istic, or communistic purposes, and to forbid the resuscitation
of such organizations under heavy penalty.
x
ITaturally under
cover of this ordinance many men were hunted down, persecuted,
and compelled to leave the country unjustly, while many who had
taken a prominent part in the revolutions and had thus far escaped
v.r
ere now forced to go ir.to e::ile.
Most of them sought
.America as "being the country' in which they could find the poli-
Domiciliary visits
tical freedom which they so much desired.
were instituted to help in the matter, and suspects were kept
under' close surveillance.
To
'be
a suspect one did not need to
have aided in the uprising, for all those- who did not vote as
Official pressure
the government desired were so regarded.
was used Tooth on voters and in the" Chambers
,
and if the latter
still remained unyielding, they were dissolved, and the sovereign
either ruled without a diet or had one picked to suit himself.
f
This espionage was also maintained over men s occu-
pations and professions.
One lawyer and writer said, "Ho other
lawyer would give me work; no business man had. the courage to
seek the aid of my legal knowledge ; no editor would consent to
publish a book of mine".^
He finally succeeded in bringing
out three novels, but the government forbade their sale and
1
£
5
Publicationen aus den Honig Treussischen Staatsarchiven, XV. 1C
3eignobos, 398.
Has en, 242
Physicians were de-
their introduction into public libraries.
nied certificates to practise "because their "morality" could not
tie
guaranteed, inasmuch as they were democrats.
newspapers
might he published, hut they could not he sold, for any news-
dealer who would offer them for sale was liable to arrest.
Un-
der the Berlin police regulations of 1851 a prisoner could he
forced to confess by the use of torture, entire deprivation of
light for any length of tine, the use of the strait jacket, and
corporal punishment to forty strokes.
In this way a man could
ho made to incriminate himself, and then could ho driven from
the country.
Furthermore there were few places in Europe in
which he could take refuge, for although personal liberty was
allowed in some countries, the whole of Europe soon become dis-
turbed by the sense of impending conflict which culminated in
the Crimean war of 1854 to 1856.
It is no v/onder that now the current of German intelli
gence and idealism turned towards America.
especially was this
true of Prussia, where the revolution had been more bloody than
in some other states and so had left behind a greater legacy of
hatred.
The strength of the emigration for political reasons
is illustrated by the half-humorous words of a German woman who
said, "Any man who has been deserving of respect, who has been
worth anything in Germany, is either in prison, or shot, or in
America, so if
I
to America."
1
2
Hazen, 242.
Richard, 472.
ever want to find a suitable husband
I
must go
CHAPTER
IV.
BCOHQMIG CAUSES.
Overpopulation; famine, prices, and emigration; feudal tenure and 3t e in-Hard enberg reforms; emigration and rainfall; industrial
revolution; wages; commercial crisis.
In addition to religious persecution and political
oppression, many of the German emigrants were leaving "behind
them distress and want.
.
In fact it is prohahle that with a
majority of them this at .least strengthened their desire to
leave their old home, for, as one author says, not many Germans
will give up the land their families have held for generations
for political ideals alone, and he states further that at any
rate in southwestern Germany,
-.There
land could he divided, over-
population was one. of the chief causes of emigration.^"
"A country is said to he overpormlated: if in the
course of a number of years the po ulation has increas d more
rapidly than the means of subsistence, and if in consequence of
this the 'average income has fallen, if the industrial pursuits
are overcrowded, so that the competition has "become cramped, and
sufficient reward
is
no longer offered, and each new increase in
the field further increases the evil; and if the area of land
is no
longer ahle to support the population under the old sys-
tem of cultivation*.
1
2
This condition was reached in Germany
Monckmeier , Die TTberseeische Auswanderung, £6.
Rffmelin, Heden und AufsStze, 569-570.
about the middle of the nineteenth century.
The country was
still predominantly agricultural, and in 1815 the number engaged
in this pursuit had been enlarged by releasing many strong men
from military duty.
Then forty years of peace had followed,
during which time the population had increased rapidly.
The
evil became so groat that in Saxony in 1848 the Landtag passed
a
lav;
limiting the population to four and a half thousand to the
square mile;"" although this was never enforced, and in some inThe
dustrial areas the density rose as high as ten' thousand^
home of the peasant is described as a wretched hut, which seems
a palace if the family possesses a single table, chair, and'
miserable bed.
Often one pot
is
the only kitchen utensil.
No
one has more than one dress and that a ragged one; the children
run about even in winter almost naked, and one never sees shoes
and stockings on their feet.
Potatoes are the chief article
of food, meat never appearing on the table, and bread scarcely
ever except on feast days.
The potato harvest marks a new
epoch in the household economy and the existence of the pcor
depends on it.
Wflrtemberg, in order to overcome the evil of excessive
population, required that a man should prove that he had sufficient means to support a family before he could marry.
The
blood-letting of the forties, it seems, was not sufficient to
Akten des landtages von Jahre 184-8, 287-507.
Schriften des Toroins ffir 3ocial-Politik, Mi. 577.
Ibid. 572
1
2
5
4
.
I.Ioi
l
clone ier,
52
.
.
restore the right ratio "between population and the means of
subsistence
and so the movement of the emigrants became even
,
stronger between 1850 a
id
1854 than during the two years pre-
vious.
^
In the south, land was divided equally among the heirs,
so that when there was a rapid increase of population, the size
of the holdings tended to "become so small that peasants could
gain only a
"bare
existence.
In normal years they raised a few-
potatoes, and a little corn, oats, cl.ver, and hay.
3ven the
well-to-do farmers existed almost exclusively on milk, potatoes,
a nd eo rn-b re a d
If this was the condition in normal years, it is hard
to imagine how peasants existed during the times of famine which
now occurred.
Beginning with 1844 there were successive har-
vests bolow the average;''' the winter of 1844 and 1845 was so
severe that many vineyards were destroyed in southern Germany,
and this destruction considerably lessened the income from wine,
the chief product of that section.
Then the potato rot, whic h
caused the famine in Ireland in 1846, appeared in southwestern
*
Germany the next year, thus destroying the principal means of
subsistence and causing large numbers to emigrate to America
In 1849 the crops were slightly better, out beginning with 1850
conditions became worse than ever.
Hot only were potatoes a
1
£
Pooley, 3ettlement of Illinois, 494.
3chriften des Vereins fur Social-Politik,
3
Pooley, 494.
IJonckmeier, 51.
4
/
Mi.
130.
,
failure, but iron 1650 to 1855 there
failure of the vintage
in TrBrtemberg a complete
vras
and also of rye, the latter causing a
rise in the price of "bread, for rye was the chief breadstuff of
the lovrer classes."
Pauperization increased
so
rapidly in
Baden that the state had to come to the aid of the people, and
in 1850 it appropriated 7,000,000 florins for soed-ccrn and wheat
the peasants not having any of their
ow
to plant that year.
In general it may he said, that a rise in the number of
emigrants follows a depression in economic conditions on the
European side of the Atlantic and prosperity on the American side,
and a rise in prices in Europe is accompanied by a corresponding
increase in the volume of emigration,
'?he
price of rye has
A study
been called the barometer of emigration in Bavaria."
of the tables of the emigration from Prussia, Hesse, and Bavaria,
and of the price of rye in those states for the years 1047 to
a^iows that in all
1855,
except three cases, when the price rose the
emigration increased.
These three exceptions are, that in Hesse
from 1850 to 1852 the price of rye fell, but emigration increased,
and in Bavaria in 1850 the price of rye rose slightly while
emigration remained stationary, and in 1853 the price of rye fell
a little while the emigration increased slightly.
seem that though other causes entered in
to-
So
it would
influence the volume
of emigration, its- changes corresponded in general to changes in
1
2
5
4
5
Faust, i. 218.
Schriften des Yereins fur Social-Pol it ik, Lii
Ibid. 134.
Ibid. 90.
3ee page 5
.
vli.
PHD 3SIA
1
•
GIT
1
)
iTG
S3 3 C IH
IH^lxJxo
129 2/3
1850-
1
185:
o
r
««(Q
125 1/5
4.58
202 1/5
i7
IT
Years
1,1
—
O OP
Price of rye per "0::.
expressed in marks
^ of population
emigrating
1847- 49
.
19.14
lS50-'52
1.
15.55
1853- f 55
1.
CaCJ •
1
j
1
bD
BAY IEIA
of population
emigrat ing
_irx*lLGG
Ox
jl'^,-
C
pS
]
1049
1.9
7.54
1850
1.9
7.57
1851
ft •
o
1 Lj »uj
4.5
17.59
1852
1
•
errprossed in florins
2o.oo
>->
1
,
X
. J.
^
i
Honnort, "Itudieren zur B jvSlkenmgsDev^egung, 105
landesstatistik des Uroshcrsogl, Hesse, Lxxi; 11
90-91.
Sohriften des Sereins fur 3oei al-Politik,
-28-
the price of rye.
The distress of the peasantry during these years of
famine and consequent high prices was aggravated
tion laws which were intended to benefit them.
"by
the redemp-
X change in the
economic world, although it may in the end he beneficial, usually entails more or less hardship while it is in progress,
Es-
pecially is this true when institutions to which the people have
been accustomed for many generations arc overturned.
one was the feudal system.
Such a
This had grown up in the Middle
Ages and had become so deeply rooted that it was not completely
destroyed on its economic and political sides until late in the
nineteenth century, although England had done away with it years
before, and the last vestiges of it in France had been given up
on the night of August the fourth, 1789.
destroyed on the left bank of the Rhine
had been united to France in the
cultural provinces of the east
It had been
when that territory
ITapo Iconic era,
it
completely
but in the agri-
still flourished.
It Is
true that ttfbugh the influence of the ideas of the French Revo-
lution a decree had been issued in 1810 providi-'iJ for
1
tion of seignorial rights and dues,
"the
redemp-
but after the restoration
of the old order in 1816 this had been so modified- by a new decree that many
f the peasants became worse off than before.
Under this new law all peasants whose holdings were sufficient
.to support a household,- and whose
possession was ancient and
confirmed for long years by the assessment roll, could redeem
1
3eignobos, 314.
-29-
thei r dues and services to their overlord by making an equiva-
lent money payment, and returning one-third of their holdings to
him if these were hereditary and one-half if they were not.
Sow in the sections where the hereditary holdings could be divided among the heirs,
the majority of them had become too small
Like-
entirely to support a family and. so could not be redeemed.
wise many in all sections could not prove their title by the
assessment roll, and so they too were debarred from the benefit
of this provision, and gained only their personal freedom which
1
was
a,
rather doubtful advantage in view of what they lost.
They did not become proprietors, but if they stayed on the land
they remained under the control of the nobles to whom the land
belonged.
These usually let the peasant have the small plot
which he had bo en accustomed to work, and in return he worked
on tho lord's laud as of oJ.d.
In this respect the peasants
were neither better nor worse off than before, but whereas they
could now leave the land if they so desired, so on the other
hand the landlord could dispossess them of it at any time he
pleased.
In fact they held it much like rented land except
that the payments were
m.ac'e
in labor rather than in cash.
They
likewise lost the indefinite but substantial rights of pasturage
and the use of the waste land and the forest.
Furthermore
,
now that the nohles and landlords saw
their "oower threatened by this loosening of the old bonds, they
sought to increase their influence by adding to their possessions.
1
2
3chriften des Yereins fur Social-Politik, Lii. 114.
Seignobos, 315
They recompensed themselves for the loss of their serfs
"by
buy-
ing new land, and it so happened that just at this time waste
land so well as
s.
cheap to
me peasant holdings were for sale
1
those who had the capital to invest.
This in time made the
rent of corn-land increase, and in consequence the price of corn
advanced rapidly.
There resulted a double loss to ike peasant,
for he had lost his right to the pasture land, and the price of
fodder went up so that he could not afford
to keep a sow.
Without the milk to help feed his family, he was unable to make
a living, and was in such need that he was forced to sell his
land to the nobles and either become a day-laborer or emigrate.
This movement was so strong" that in Hesse between 1846 and 1854
the number of peasants was reduced by emigration more than seven
percent."
In some cases whole villages disappeared.
ample in 1855 it was said that the village of 7/ernings
tirely vanished in the last eight or ten years.
For exhad en-
The peasants
had sold their land to the Count of oolms-Laubach and emigrated.
The same thing was true of Pferdsbach and Wippen'bach in Hesse.
This movement was strong also in north and east Germany, where
the peasant holdings of whole villages were absorbed by the
great estates, and in consequence the statistics show a decided
decrease of peasant proprietors.
It
is
stated that in the
eastern provinces of Prussia the decrease was from £77,704
1
2
5
4
Ilonckmcior , 41.
ibid. 50
ibid.
ibid. 40
.
-51
-
peasant owners in 1816 to 15,111 in 1859.-
In Pomerania the
fteorease in the amount of land so held was 13»18$ and in Schles-
wig 12*8%.
Dr. Edward Brttckner, professor of geography at Vienna,
has made an interesting study of "Glimatie Variations and Emigra-
tion in the nineteenth Century".
He says, "The harvest of a
land depends on the rainfall, hut wet and dry seasons do not
have the same effect in all Places.
Especially can we observe
a difference in the influence of the' amount of rainfall between
western and middle Europe on the one side and the United States
on the other".
A wet season, he
claims, causes poor crops in
Europe, while in America it produces good ones, hut a dry season
is favorable to production in Europe and adverse here.
Oonse-
gue..tly when there is a season wetter than normal, ITorth America
will receive many emigrants from the old coimtries, and in dry
seasons the numher will decrease.
In the tables
on the followii
page which were compiled by Dr. Brttcknor the rainfall is givnn
not absolutely but in percentages above or below the average.
Thus for the year 1055 the rainfall of Europe is 0$ or normal
while that of the United 3tntcs is 1 or 1% above normal.
The
cor re s ondence of emigration a d rainfall is clearly shown by the
parallelism of the two curves.
This theory ean be related to
that of the price of rye and emigration, for when the rainfall
1
2
I.lonckmeier, -10.
3
Internationale ^"ochenschrift
March 5, 1910.
3ee page ^2.
4
ib id
nilc,
fttr
Wissenschaft
,
Kimst und Tech-
.
-32Emigration to the United States and Rainfall
German emigration to
the United States in
10,000 population.
Percentage of
Rainfall in
Germany United States
1841-1845
11
3
1
1846-1850
33
-1
8
1851-1855
65
8
1
1856-1860
27
-7
-7
Curves of Rainfall and Emigration
Fercent-
1
183!!
1838
1843
1848
1853
1858
1863
1833
1838
1843
1848
1853
1858
1863
For detailed curve of emigration see page 5.
'
-zz
-
in Germany is above normal, the orops are poor, and prices
att^'
vance, while prices are lower when the rainfall is "below norn^J;^
Thus from 1846 to 1850 the rainfall is 1% bel w normal and prices
of rye are low,
"but
during the next period there is an abundant
rainfall, and prices in some years are nearly three times as
high as in 1849 and 1S50.TVhilo the
poor
rainfall was not favorable, while crops were
and while the redemption legislation oppressed the agri-
cultural class, these w-re not the only economic causes for ©migration, for now the industrial revolution was in progress, with
all the hardships which it entailed.
baclr.'ird in
Germany had been extremely
this respect in comparison with England and even
wl
th
France; only gradually was industry emerging from the domestic
sta^e vnd'the regulations of the guilds, and the factory system
being established.
This is proved by tne fact
Tinder 30^ of the population lived in towns
over, and less than
Gnat
m
lo3U
of two thousand or
in cities of fifty thousand.
Many
peasants, however, by means of spinning and weaving in tneir
homes, had been able to eke out an existence on very small plots,
but now they were fast losing this aid, for the factory system
was slowly but surely supplanting the hand industries.
Even
if Germany did not have many factories herself, England and
France were sending in their machine products against which articles made by hand could not compete.
In the mountain districts of Silesia linen
1
2
See page £8
Honckmeier, 83.
weaving had
"been a
profitable source of income to the peasants,
hut power machines were gradually introduced, and the handwork-
ers either had to give up their work or accept wages low enough
to allow their products to compete
witli
machine-made articles.
In this way the weavers could get only eighteen shillings for a
piece of work that took
f
ern
five or
si::
weeks to finish.
The
game thing was true of the spinning of flax in Lippe-Detmold on
the Wesar "River, from which section came a large emigration to
Wisconsin in 1849 and 1850,
2
This same discontinuation of
iome industries took place also in the Srsgobirge,
as well as
in the south in Baden, Tftrtemberg, and Bavaria, where the ques-
tion of employment was still more acute, since industries were
all
it
a standstill, while the farming districts were over-popu-
lated.
The condition of thd working-man was worse in Silesia
than anywhere else
Germanv.
ItetY
but wages wore pitifully low in every 'part
laborers received 20 cents in summer and 14 cents
in winter in Breslau in 1050.
In Berlin the highest wages paid
skilled mechanics -ere 14.50 per week.
In 3a;:ony a laborer re-
ceived $1.68 a wool:, and must pay $1.50 for food alone.
It ic
not surprising in view of these statistics that large numbers
should wish to come to America to better their condition.
1
2
3
4
5
o
Dawson, German Socialism, 54.
Wisconsin Historical Collections xiv. 366.
Schriften aea Yoreins fur Social-Polit ik lii. 369.
ibid.,, 150.
Dawson, 55.
,
,
-35-
A financial crisis in Germany in 1847 and 1848, due
to the too rapid increase of the mileage
of railroads, and
a
general depression prevailing over the continent, aggravated th
condition of the working people.
But it was not peasants and
artisans alone who came to America for reasons mainly economic.
After
Berlin.
the Llarch Says hundreds of the well-to-do people loft
It was felt that if monarchist should triumph,
it
would he insolvent; and if repuhlicanism should he victorious,
:
it mi^ht repudiate the dehts of the monarchy.
In either case
much property would he destroyed, and so rich as well as poor
sought greater security and opportunity in the land across the
1
Littell^ Li
,
ii. 575.
m
3?a~
aid
..
Emigration societies; Legal freedom of emigration; Advice to emigrants; State appropriations.
Many of the lower classes, however, owing to the
economic depression of the country, the failure of crops and
$he destruction of hand-industries, had not the means to seek a
new home on this side of the water; for although transportation
had been cheapened considerably, nevertheless, it cost more than
these people could possibly gather together.
'
Emigration so-
cieties were formed during the forties and fifties to aid such
persons, hut the
primary motive of these organisations was not
philanthropic hut patriotic.
Hew Germany in America.
They were organized to settle a
This was to he connected economically
if not politically with the home country, for now that the fac-
tory system was being introduced, Germany felt the need of a
marlvet for her products such as
their colonial empires •
3ngland and France possessed in
There arose a flood of literature de-
scribing this scheme, and Wisconsin was the place ge
:
ier.il
ly
agreed upon as being' most nearly like Germany in soil and climate,
and so better suited for a German settlement."
may
seey.:
t
us the plan
ridiculous of trying to Germanise a portion of the United
Stat os, but the fact that prominent men headed the movement shows
1
Wisconsin Historical Collections, xiv. 579.
.
that
it
was really considered seriously.
Texas had been
thought to he suited for German occupation, and in 1844 a so-
ciety had been formed in Hainz for the protection of German emigrants to that region.
It v;as thought that if enough settled
here, it could easily be made a dependency of Germany, but with
its annexation to the United States this plan was frustrated, and
attention was turned strongly toward Wisconsin.
This accounts
to same extent for the large German population of these states.
This movement was strengthened by the general accep-
tance of the theory that had been published by Malthns at the
beginning of the century.
incre
,se
According to this population tends to
in geometrical ratio, while the means of subsistence in-
crease only in arithmetical ratio.
Thus population would push
beyond the means of subsistence if left to itself, and the correct ratio between the two would then be restored by starvation.
Germany had had forty years of peace and comparative prosperity,
in which
it.
was certainly true that the population had increased
more rapidly than the means of subsistence, hence the starving
condition of many of the peasants.
As a means of bettering
this situation and restoring the correct ratio between products
and people, these emigration societies conceived the idea of
aiding the human surplus to go
'to
America, where population was
much behind the means of subsistence owing to the country
T
s
being new and thinly settled.
Sixteen such emigration societies were formed in Baden
1
Monckme ier
,
242
1
-38
alone »
whose purpose was not so much to give direct financial
aid, as to assist the emigrant in disposing of his property
profitably, to give him instructions as to the journey and settlement, and by overseeing the steamship companies to give him cheap
and good transportation,
'
In 1847 the National Society for Ger-
man Emigration and Co Ionization was organized with its center at
Darmstadt, hut it also maintained "branches in nearly all German
Its purposes were to relieve the social and economic
states."
conditions of the country by aiding the surplus population to
emigrate, and to help them remain German by keeping their own
»
language and customs.
latter aim
ers to -o
tried to persuade professional men as well as labor-
-it
f
In order to aid in accomplishing the
so
that the services
-of
men of other nations would
not be at all needed.
In 1048 a congress of all the German emigration socie-
ties met at Frankfort, especially in order to discuss the pre-
sent methods of aiding emigration, as a means
spread of poverty in the home country."
of.
preventing the
In the following year
the Society for the Centralization of German Emigration and Col-
onisation was formed in Berlin.-
Since 1852 this has been known
as the Central Society for German Emigration and Colonization.
Many of the prominent men of Berlin were influential in this
organization; Yon Billow, the Prussian LTinister of the Interior,
was president, while GSblcr, a councillor, ton MSiner, a judge,
1
2
5
Schrifte des Vereins fur Social-Politik,*
lii 474
-ibid.
,
.
I.Ionckme lor,
.
42
^
.
-59-
and the wealthy wine merchant ITrause, were managing members.
Some of the most important work, however, was done at
the ports from which the emigrants sailed.
Bremen and Hamburg
were the two principal ports of embarkation,
19,857 people
sailed from Bremen during the year 1844; this number increased to
25,776 in 1850 and 76,875 in 1854, £
The 77 gathered hero from the
different parts of Germany and sometimes had to stay several
weeks, for there were not sufficient ships to accomodate them,
all owing to the rapid increase of the number of emigrants,
To
care for these people an emigration house was erected in Bremen
in 1850,
Shis contained lodgings,
a
hospital room, a laundry,
and a chapel which could be used. by both Catholics and Protes-
tants,
.The
charge for board in this place was extremely small
so that it would come within the reach of all.
In the nc::t year an information bureau for emigrants was
started, on the initiative of a private organization.
pose was to furni
:h
Its pur-
"all persons who wish to go from Bremen to
parts oyer the sea with reliable inf orm.it ion"
Hot all the work, however, was loft to private initiative
for the state now began to take part in the organisation and aid
of emigration.
This was the outcome of a gradual change which
hod come over the attitude of government towards emigration.
Formerly it had been regarded as injurious to the state, and so
1
2
'"chriften des Vcreins fttr Soeial-Politik, Lii. 474.
!.!onckmeier, 421.
3
4
ibid., 421.
3chriften des Vereins
fftr
oOcial-Politik, lii. 418.
,
-40-
en strictly fort icicle
flHtlthusian tneory i
o
>
had come to be considered as salutary*
It was regarded as a means of "bettering economic and social
conditions at home and of lessening poverty, b egging, and crime.
The cjuest ion was such an x mportant one that it came
hjj
"before the Frankfort Parliament, and on July 20, 1848 section six
of the Bill of the Rights of Man was adopted, declaring that
freedom of emigration rus not to
but that
i
"be
interfered with
"by
was under the protection of the empire.
the states
On March
16, 1849 a committee reported a set of decrees for carrying out
this section,
:;.ncL
the report was adopted.
This provided for a
antral emigration commission which should havo
/firman state.
"branches in every
The Suabian- "branch immediately sent out agents to
America to report
on, the
soil, climate, and products of the dif-
ferent sections of the country.-'"'- Forth thousand florins was
appropriated for this exploration.
This action on the part of the parliament, however, was
never effective, as the Revolution of 1848 failed, and the const!
tut ion never went into effect.
granted by the
di~ f Grout
first state which
1
But the freedom of emigration
states was a real step in advance.
The
gaily recognized this principle was Baden.
The Grand Duke in 1805 had had the laws in force in the different
wfeates collected and from these had framed a new one.
locial-Politik, Lii.
ibid •
'to.
41!
Accord-
-a-
the leave to emigrate could
"be
denied cnly upon
grounds, one of v;nich might be that
it
had go increased
ing to this
jptBriJain
lav;
in a certain region th~t prices threatened to drop.
ilUWU. OX
.
f
c
,
l-Jltr
conceded freely.
UiiO
LilU.li.Lt/
UIHO
J.j.g.lib
U
U
In general,
Ci.ll^X(AI;0
W.-.O
In some states military service had to he
performed first or a substitute provided, and in some a tax was
collected in compensation for services lost*
vrho
desired to setole in anooiier con
Ltiry
In Prussia a man
had to obtain letters 01
expatriation, giving up his right to inherit real estate and to
carry on a trade in Prussia, and in return he was freed from
military service and taxes*
To obtain these letters, however,
if he was going to emigrate to another than a Serman state he
must have notice of the fact published for from four to six weeks
"before he might leave*
the interests of the working pecple
motion to repeal this
tutional*^
for promoting
In 1849 the local societ;
lav;,
in.
Berlin "brought forward a
hut it was defeated as being" unconsti-
In Hesse in the previous year the time of publication
of the notice of emigration was shortened from three months to
four v;eeks
*
Bavarian subjects were the only exception to this
Tight or leaving their own country*
Legally they could never
do this except to go to other German states, until 1052, when
they were granted the privilege of settling in Brazil.
Besides aiding emigration by remo"ing the legal restrictions on it, the states helped in many other ways
1
2
5
4
La ing, 74.
Schriften des Vereins fur Social -Politik, lii.
ibid./ 172.
ibid., 14.
For instanc
•
4-7'
.
in Bremen the
lav;
of ipril
1849, while it prohibited the
9"fcli,
assistance of the emigration of citizens who had the right of trade
I.e., for the middle class who did not need help, protected those
who left the country
"by
retiring that ships should not
he so
overcrowded that passengers could not have sufficient air and
It also regulated the amount of food of differ-
room on deck.
ent kinds to
"oe
taken for each passenger.
najtry 11th, 1848, a hill was passed
In Prussia on f6b~*
making further provision for
the carriage of passengers by sea to Yor-th Ar.erica
fee law of May 7th,- 1855,
'the
.~
Again by
sane state .tried to protect the
emigrants by providing that the contractors and agents of emigra-
They also tried to 'extend their
tion should he under control."
sphere of influence, and to protect their people on this side
of the water from "runners" and "landsharks" who were ready to
cheat them out of what little
with them.
,/:oney
they had managed to bring
Baden had taken the lead in this movement and as
early as 1853 had sent a consul to New York whose business it was
to take care of the emigrants.
t
4
Yttrtemberg in 1845 had placed
officials in Hew York, Baltimore, and New Orleans, and by the
period under consideration practically all the German states had
consuls in America whose chief duty it was to protect and aid
their countrymen in every way possible.
Another and still more important £ield had been entered
by the state in regard to emigration.
There arose about v 1841
Z
Schriften des Ycreins fur Social-Politik, Mi « 419.
Royal Privy State Archives, Y Jan. -Doe. 1848. Feb. 11.
Schriften dec; Yereins ffr SooxaX-Politik, Lii. 4G8.
4
I.Ionckmeier
1
2
.
246.
such a great demand for state managed emigration that it took
the appearance of a matter of. life and death with the nation*
It "became so strong that
it
could not he resisted , and in Baden
*
alone 299, 576 florins were spent in aiding this cause most of it
"being
used during the last two years of the decade, on account of
1
famine of 1847.
t-h©
"burg
Financial aid was given in
and Hesse, and strangest of all
"both
urtem-
r
7.
in Savaria the poo~ole were
.
given money from the state treasury to enahle them to find a new
home in America, although legally they could not go outside the
territory of the German states,"
In Prussia the state confined
its efforts to subsidizing the Central 3ociety for German Emi-
gration,
The capital of this organisation was so small that
without the aid of the state it could not have done its work.
In 1850 it received six hundred marks and in the next ten years
ten times that much, so great became the pressure.
In fact without the aid that was
:iven by the govern-
ments the private societies could never have handled the situation, and hundreds of those who emigrated to America would have
"been
1
2
Z
financially unahle to leave their native land.
Monckmeier, 47.
Schriften des Tereins fur Social -Politik, Lii.
ibid.. 29
.
CHAPH5B VI
CAU3SS IH AMERICA
The opening up of the Vfest; Discovery of gold
in California; Letters and advice of earlier
en i grants
The causes -of emigration discussed thus far have "been
those operating in Germany, hut there were also attractions draw
In fact the name
ing Germans to this side of the Atlantic.
"America" was almost synonymous with "fairyland" to some among
the poorer classes of peasants.
If there had not "been strong
allurements here, many perhaps would not have ventured to leave
their old homes at all," or at most would merely have sought a
"better position in some other European country, as France or
England, in "both of which lands conditions were very much su-
perior to those in Germany, owing to the fact that the industria
revolution had made far greater strides.
In the first place this was a period of exceptional
prosperity in America,
tamer speaks
of it as the "Golden Age"
This progress was due to several causes, hut perhaps the one
which most influenced the German emigrant
the West.
Many had
v/as
the opening up of
Implanted in the Germans is the desire to own land.
"been
forced to sell their holdings at home "because they
were no longer ahle to make a living, and
"by
taking this step
they had cut a strong tie that hound them to their fatherland.
1
Bogart, Economic History of the United States, 179.
TThen,
therefore, they heard that land could ho acquired easily in
America, they were moved to seel: here a habitation which they
TThile land in the
could hand down to thoir children,
TCest
had been open to acquisition before this
American
eriod, the attrac-
tion of it had not ^een so strong, because of the difficulty in
reaching
it-
and the inaccessibility of a market for the induce,
but now these obstacles v/ore being surmounted by the extension of
About 1850 Henry Carey said:
railroads.
"Twelve years since the
fare of a passenger from Chicago, Illinois (by lake, and rail to
II
ew York City), fifteen hundred miles, was (374.50.
It
is
now
Twelve years since the cost of transporting a bushel
but $17
of wheat from CMcago to ITew York was so great as effectually to
keep the grain of that country out of the market.
How a bushel
of wheat is transported the whole distance, fifteen hundred miles,
for twenty-seven cents.
from Chicago to
flew
A barrel of flour can be transported
York for eighty cents".
transportation
T7ith
from the coast to the interior so cheap and with land obtainable
so easily,
it
Opportunity.
±2
no wonder that many availed themselves of the
Wisconsin offered especially liberal terms to
German emigrants, for they made good farmers and were more suited
to this state than any other, inasmuch as the climatic conditions
8,nd
the soil were more nearly like those in Germany
..
The other
western states, too, were an::iou3 to attract these settlors, for
all were eager to develop tmeir naouiai re^oniooti.
j.na.b
ouuj.u
done only by the aid of men from other countries, for the native
1
2
Bog -art, 252.
Wisconsin Hiatorical Collections
,
xiv. £76.
.
population did not suffice.
Furthermore, the Germans were more
capable of helping in this work than the other nationalities, whi<
congregated chiefly in the cities,
Hot only
"as
land easily acquired, but there were
"better means of working it here than in Germany where old methods
By 1840 the threshing machine was generally in
still prevailed.
use, and the practical employment of the .reaper and mower may he
dated 'from 1850.
1
The necessities of life "were easily supplied;
*'l
while cattle and hogs took care of themselves by foraging.
2
While these advantages attracted the more sober and in-
dustrious portion of our now German settlers, the adventurous
spirits were lured by wonderous tales of the rich gold fields of
California,
In January 1048, gol«T had been discovered by James
Marshall at Sutter
1
s
Mill.
£he news did not
read the East un-
til March, but then began a wild:: rush across the plains,
Europe
caught the fever in 1849, and from all countries poured a stream
of fortune -hunters to the land of gold.*
1
ITot
only the gold,
but also the .fact that all had equal rights, appealed to the
German who had tried in va'n to win recognition in his homeland
of the claim that "he had some rights which should be respected.
All of the land east of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers
1
was public property ', and the first man who came had the first
on to another*
1
2
5
4
5
moved
When one place was exhausted, the f rtune -hunter
tights.
Bogart, 278.
ibid., 272.
ibid., 244.
doman, 263
ibid., 265.
.
To the men in California the supply of gold
•
.
-47
-
»«emed ineiihaustible , and each kept on thinking he was going to
make a lucky strike,
tunes.
lout
as a matter of fact very few made, for-
The steamship companies, however, failed to report this
aspect of the matter; only the successes were told, and these in
such glowing terms that
mo-re
and more were encouraged to eome.
In fact the reports sent back from this country as a
whole were, perhaps, one of the chief reasons why many finally de
cided to try their fortune here.
Germany was inundated with a
flood of panrphlets which described the wonderful land and gave
advice to emigrants.
-The condition of the country in general
was explained, with an account
cyf
the climate, the soil, the
nature of the plants, and animals, and the characteristics of
the people.
Some pamphlets then entered into a description of
the various sections of the United States, pointing out the
advantag
s
and disadvantages of each and comparing them with
different parts of Germany.
Prom these the emigrants were
frequently led to believe that they woulcl find homes similar in
some respects to those they had left, but so situated that they
covld easily gain a comfortable living.
??hese
pamphlets also
gave advice as to the ports of embarkation, the nest seasons for
the journey, the ports of destination, the routes to be followed
to the interior, and other matters which would relieve the fears
of the timid and furnish them with. d irections as to their course
of action.
1
2
One author of this time says that a great many hooks
Menzel, Die Yereinigten Staaten.
Kirsten, 3kizsen aus den Yereinigten Staaton.
Ross, ITord Amerika
-43-
were written each year conqerning emigration to America.
A
"book which advised the people not to emigrate would have few
i
readers and
for;
buyers, hut as soon as
-a
work appeared that pic-
tured the land as a paradise, it was industriously "bought and
read, and thousands were persuaded by means of it to emigrate.
they seem almost like
3o exaggerated were these reports .that
fairy-stories, and the credulity with which" the
them is amazing,
It
"
1
peole accepted
*
may he asked why ©migrants already -here did not
advise their friends at home that these reports were too highly
colored.
Chiefly becar.se in all pro liability they had believed
and perhaps had boasted to a great-
the stories before they came,
er or less extent of the fortunes "which they intended
in the New
T.'. r
to
amass
Soman nature is so constituted that one
orld #
hates to acknowledge that ho has made
will be ridiculed.
a
mistake, for fear he
So these poor emigrants were afraid of the
laughter of their neighbors
,
-if
they should write back to the
ancestral village that they must work for what they received here
.as
well as at home; that while they could live better than in
the Old Country, they had by no means heaped up a vast fortune as
yet; and that the prospects of their ever doing so seemed very
slight indeed.
They preferred rather to let their friends
think that they had acquired fame and fortune, as did two brothers
who went to ?e::as.
These soon wrote back to their father that
they had been created barons, in possess ion of a large tract of
1
Menzel, 545.
land of which they woulrl sell a part to their old neighbors very
Heedless to say that when a company arrived in the
cheap.
autumn of 1850 "bringing with thenv money to he used in partial
payment for the land, the brothers had disappeared, and no one
in that section had any "knowledge of their having received such a
1
Fortunately such great
grant or having been made barons.
frauds as this were rare, but still it was necessary to guard in
some way against the tricks which might be played upon new ar-
rivals, and so German emigration societies wore formed here as
well as in Germany.
These were .organized especially in Hew
York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and many of the pamphlets of
advice urged the people to go to the headquarters of these societies rather than to accept the services of any who might offer
them.
ft e
adventurous naturally did not care for this protec-
tion, but among the timid some were probably encouraged to come
by the knowledge that there were -persons here who would give them
advice
X
or.
which they coTild rely.
Littell'3 living Age, :oniiv
.
460
'
t
-so
-
CHAPTER 711
CAtTSES 0?
DECLINE II 1855
«
Improvement of conditions in Germany; Depression in the United States; Slavery agitation; Khow-lTo thing -Party.
The motives which actuated the Germans to 'emigrate
during the period under consideration lost their. strength in
whole or in part in 1855, for in that year the number of German
'
emigrants arriving at our shores wag only about one-third of what
it was in the preceding year."^"
An examiBatioB of the causes
of the decline will show something of the strength of the motives
^Rrative during the preceding years, and these causes are
to
"be
found on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Germany there was'^d? general improvement in econ-
omic and business conditions.
good harvest in 1854
,
In the first place there was a
the first normal one for a number of years.
Is hunger had before this time aggravated the political- and reli-
gious grievances of the people, so now a sufficiency of food
helped them to endure what they had. formerly fled from.
Uaturally there was a reaction in prices after a good
crop, and the cost of food again reached a reasonable level.
This
drop in prices was accentuated by the fact that the output of gold
from California and Australia had by this time mate ri ally in-
.
creased the amount of money in the world and relieved the stringency of the money -market of Europe , so that it "was much easier
1
£
See page H8
Schriften des Vereins fur Social -Po^itik, Lii. 77.
.
.
the necessities which they corld not provide for themselves*
By 1055 the redemption legislation,
the,,
last
of.
which had
"been
passed in 1850, had also had. time to improve the lot of many
o:
the peasants who now took an interest in improving the methods
]
of farming-.
was likewise improving.
The industrial revolution had proi
pressed so far that there was a distinct "betterment in technique
and methods of working, which in turn caused increased receipts,
Commerce, industry, and trade flourished, and this showed in an
unexpected increase of wages.
ay to the Crimean !Tar, for England, France, Italy, and Russia
became engaged in the war whilethe German states remained neutr
30 that Germany had a chance to benefit by the
misfortunes of
the manufacturers and merchants of their neighbors.
The war
helped the agricultural class in Germany likewise, because many
who had been engaged in this pursuit in other countries were wit
drawn for military duty.
This,
raised the £rico of agricultural
r
products all over Europe, and as Germany Was neutral she profits
mo
.
o
Thile conditions in Europe were distinctly better, so
that people were less anxious to leave, the state of affairs in
America had become much worse,
1
£
Llonckmcior,
ibid .
54
,
so.
that possible emigrants were
iC.J 3
at t ract d to
111
C01I10 •
the xirst place
,
While tne
C Ulltry
was seemingly prosperous as a whole, yet beginnings of difficul-
3
uO uSl
orold foil from
Ollu'
)65
,000 ,
-
v.'O
m
loaii
to
*55,00C,000 in 1855 and in consequence the rush to California
was checked.
In fact miners who had the means to do so left
what field entirely,
\n
Ire
tiers
o~o
*
ilocned into tne towns*
xne
worst trouble arose, however, not from this lessening of output,
which affected only the more risky ventures* hut from the discovery of. the fraud of Henry Ileigs, a business man of •San Francisco, who had engaged in peculation to such an extent that when
exposure threatened him he fle&f leaving $800,000 of debt."
Shis involved, many of his creditors and started a local panic;
in
1854 there were seventy-seven failures and in 1855 the number
<
^©reased to one hundred
and ninety-seven in San Francisco alone.
The reports Qf the s ^conditions naturally discouraged
all who' wished to seek gold from leaving their fatherland, but
probably more were affected by. the slavery agitation which had
become so acute that war appeared inevitable*
In 1850 it had
seemed, that the Compromise of t Hat. year had settled the difficul-
ties between the north and the south, but on January fourth, 1854
Stephen A. Douglas, as chairman of the Committee on Territories,
reported a Hebraska bill to the Senate providing for the territorial organisation of that region, 'and adding a proviso that when
Coman, 3c on on ic Beginning!
ibid., 286 .
mid.. 287.
.
53-
it became a state it should enter the union with or without slav-
ery '-as its constitution might provide.
the Compromises of 1020
md
©lis in fact annulled
1850 and reopened the question of the
extension of slavery, so that it appeared to many that the question could he settled only by an appeal to arms.
There had arisen at this time a
nev;
political party,
the Know-ITo things, which also affected the. decline of ©migration
in 1855 •
This party made its first appearance in Hew York and
Massachusetts ah out the middle of the century.
Alarmed by the
flood of emigrants that were yearly "being poured into the country,
some men formed a mysterious secret organization.
Though most of
these were descendants of the Puritans, they claimed that the aim
of the Pilgrim Fathers had "been not freedom of conscience, hut a
theocratic state in close connection with the Puritan Church; whereas now foreigners, most of whom^Were Catholics, were pouring into
the country and would eventually monopolise the government.
glance at some
.of
A
the planks of the party in 1856 will show the
ant i -foreign feeling.
"5. Americans must rule America,. and to this end native
born citizens should ho elected to all state, federal, and muni*
cipaX offices of government employment in preference to all others
5.
Ho person should he selected for political station whether
native or foreign horn who recognizes any allegiance or obligation
of any description to any foreign prince, potentate, or power who
1
Smith, Parties and Slavery, 95.
2
3tanwood
T
s
History of Elections, 195.
•
.
-54-
refuses to reco-rnise the federal and state constitutions (each
within its sphere) as paramount to all other rules of political
action
9. A
change in the laws of naturalization making a
continuous residence of twenty-one years an indispensable requisite
for citizenship is necessary hereafter/'
3?his
party succeeded in
1354 in electing the governors of seven states and obtaining the
"balance of power in the House of Representatives
With economic conditions so much improved in Germany;
with the depression in California; with the slavery agitation
threatening. civil war; and with many Americans violently opposed
to the large influx of foreigners, it
is
tion from Germany to America fell
considerably after the year
off*
1854
1
American Historical ? oview, iii. 67
k
no wonder that emigra-
.
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soimcss
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f
Saxony)
Dresden
The Germans of 1849 in .America.
Becker, M. J.
Cincinnati, 1887.
3i3marck, Otto von.
Autobiography.
York, 1899.
Nev:
Bogen,
r
1
.
The German in America.
1.
Boston, 1852.
Buchele,
Ivnd und Volk der Vereinigton Staaten von
0.
D.
Stuttgart, 1855.
Hord Amerika.
Buttner,
J.
G.
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Staaten ITord Amerika
[
s
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Dresden, 1847.
Dud en, Gottfried.
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3 1 aa t o n
K o r d Am e r i ka
1
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Bcmn, 1855.
Gerke, H. 3.
Der
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Amerikanische Ratgeber.
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EIrstcn,
A..
Skiszen aus den Yereinigten Staaten von Hord Amerika*
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Laing, 3.
cler
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London, 1850.
.
-56-
Landdeaatatistik des Grossherzogland Hesse.
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Revolution in Germany, xvii. 329-330,
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Revolution and Counterrevolution in Germany.
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G,
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"r
appaus, J. S.
Deutsche Auswanderung und Colonization.
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2
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Historical Development of Modern
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.
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Browning, Oscar.
7
History of the Modern World.
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,
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3.
Internationale Woohenschrift
fttr
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Mar. 5, 1910.
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Cambridge Modern History, vols iii and xi.
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Eoonomio Beginnings of the Far test.
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Hew York, 1912.
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Cushman, H. S.
2
vols.
Hew York, 1910.
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German Socialism and Ferdinand LaSalle.
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The German Element in the United States,
Faust, A. B.
2
vols.
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IT.
ler.
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Five lectures hy J. H. Rose,
Herford, E. 0. K. Sonne r, and M.
History of the Ghurch in the Eighteenth and Hine
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,
G.
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American Historical Review, iii.
Hew York, 1910.
Headlam,
J.
77.
3ad
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-58
Henderson, E. P.
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